Keeping on.

16 March 2014

Life keeps on keeping on, as it
thankfully does. Sometimes it seems to fly by, other times it seems to
move ever so slowly, but ultimately, it keeps on... which is a wonderful
thing.

It isn't the
length of life, but the depth. ~Emerson

My heart momma and dear friend
Debbie's memorial service was yesterday. As I look back over the story
that is my life I see lots and lots of awesome people that have come and gone,
in and out and sometimes back in and sometimes never out, but there
are just a few that I know this - I am the woman that I am today because
of their investment in me, my heart, my life, and my story.

Debbie was one of those amazing
shining lights and I will forever be grateful for her love, wisdom,
encouragement, and passion for the things that are most important. Her
life wasn't long but it was deep; its richness was poured out on hundreds and
thousands of hearts and I know that her memorial yesterday wasn't one of
sadness but of joy and worship and celebration of life.

So I celebrated life, too - I
went to the beach with a landie full of ladies and we laughed and
talked and walked and splashed and watched the little crabs scurry around when
we were still and run away at the first sign of movement. It was a sweet
day of beautiful blue skies, just the perfect amount of wind, and one that
reminded me that there is something wonderful about the mix of sweat, sand,
sunscreen, and salt in your hair as you climb up the gangway, slightly toasted
around the edges, and contentedly fall into bed at the end of the day.

What then is
time? If no one asks me, I know what it is... if I wish to explain it to him
who asks, I do not know. ~Saint Augustine

Somehow we're already talking
about the end of the field service here in Congo; pack up, sailing, summer
plans, who is coming back for the next field service in Guinea and who is
stepping into the next different thing that God has for them. It seems it was just yesterday we were all
hyped up about this brand new country in a brand new region and my brand new
job and all that came with being surrounded entirely by brand new things.I’ve been with Mercy Ships nearly two years
now, and I know my time here has only just begun.It’s been a hard season, a learning season,
but overall a good season and I’m looking forward to a year of growth; I
already know my way around Guinea, and I’m learning my way around my not-so-new
job, so it can only get easier, right? One can hope!

I’m planning various summer
adventures; starting out with a month in an intensive language course and host
family in France, followed by visits with various other European friends.I never knew, until starting to plan this
summer, how ridiculously cheap it is to fly around Europe; it’s probably a good
thing that I don’t live there or I wouldn’t ever get anything done for the
travelling and adventuring!I’m very
much looking forward to the time, as well as looking forward already to our
next field service in Guinea.

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. ~Einstein

This is the third country I’ve
served in at the end of the field service; I was there for the final push in
Sierra Leone in 2011 and Guinea in 2013.There’s all this hype and excitement about the end and everything that
goes into packing up and sailing away; soon they’ll be saying how many days
until we sail at the beginning of every single meeting.I appreciate this to some extent, but at the
same time, I don’t want to be so focused on the next thing that I miss out on what is happening here and now.Amazing things, every single day, if we
were to write them down there wouldn’t be enough space in all of Congo for the
pages that would be written.I love
looking out my window and seeing our littlest plastics patients giggling and
laughing their way through their physical therapy; I love serving coffee on
Sunday mornings to an appreciative crew; I love hearing the songs and the joy coming
from the wards of patients in various stages of healing. What we get to do here
is incredible, and I am so very grateful to be a part of it.Life keeps on, through grief and joy and
everything in between.

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About Me

Currently blogging from Cambridge, Massachusetts

Disclaimer:

This is my personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of any organization or institution with which I am currently or was once affiliated. This includes but is not limited to Mercy Ships, Harvard University, University of Liverpool, Peace Corps, or the US Government.